In a recent audit the high councilor found an online donation made "to perpetual education, temple building funds etc. They appeared in the Other category. Since they were all assigned properly, there was no exceptions involved, but the question is why they appeared there, shouldn't they be going to the Church's other categories. How do we get them out of [the Ward account] and to where they should be." The Stake Presidency and Bishop are at a loss on what to do and fear the Church may require the Ward to write a check for an online donation.

That doesn't sound right. While some of those donation categories call under parent "Other", they should be swept to the CHQ automatically. In no way should they be confused with the sub-category "Other (Authorized Member Financed Activities)" - which is what we usually mean by "other".

First, I'd confirm that you have a balance. It's possible the funds were swept already. If you do have a balance, then I'd call local unit support.

Have you searched the Wiki?
Try using a Google search by adding "site:tech.lds.org/wiki" to the search criteria.

If someone created categories for them under "Other (Authorized Member Financed Activities)" then they would show up with a balance. If that is the case find the donations and reassign them to the correct categories directly under Other. Once the balance is zero you should be able to hide those local categories so that they don't get used again.

jonesrk wrote:If someone created categories for them under "Other (Authorized Member Financed Activities)" then they would show up with a balance.

If that's the case, then I'd call that a bug. Unless something has changed, nothing under "Other (Authorized Member Financed Activities)" is available for online donation. If that happened, then I wonder if this was really a regular Sunday donation processed incorrectly.

jonesrk wrote:If someone created categories for them under "Other (Authorized Member Financed Activities)" then they would show up with a balance.

If that's the case, then I'd call that a bug. Unless something has changed, nothing under "Other (Authorized Member Financed Activities)" is available for online donation. If that happened, then I wonder if this was really a regular Sunday donation processed incorrectly.

I didn't read the OP completely enough. You're right if it was really online donations, then it is unlikely in the wrong category.